Austal 270 – WOW.

                                                   AUSTAL 270 (click here)

I have to admit to being very disappointed by the many failed starts of Euroferries, as I travel to France regularly and my preferred route would be high speed from Ramsgate to Boulogne-sur-mer.  I have to give EF full marks for trying to get this service up and running, their main problem appears to be obtaining a suitable craft for the service.

Their latest offering is the Austal 270, a state of the art Trimaran built by the Australian company Austal whose factory is in Henderson near Perth, Austrailia, where the said ship can be found on Marinetraffic.com. The company confirm a four year lease agreement on the vessel to EF, so we all await its arrival with bated breath.

I for one will be using the service, if or when it arrives next year. That will show real progress in Ramsgate Port

Dreamland or Paramount?

The high speed train service is attracting development into Kent.  One hour seventeen minutes from London is a proposal on a 16.5 acre site to rebuild Dreamland Margate as a Heritage Theme Park, it is not yet in for planning permission, but plenty of grant money for the construction has been pledged.

BUT just 17 minutes from the capital on an 872 acre site, also on the HS line, at Swanscombe in Kent is a proposal to build Paramount’s answer to Euro Disney.  Outline planning permission is already applied for and an estimated opening date of 2017 has been set.

So where does this leave Dreamland? Yes it is a heritage site not a futuristic attraction but given that theme parks are generally aimed at the younger generation can they be attracted to historic rides, or would they prefer to take a high speed ride on a train to experience the latest in high tech amusement? One interesting observation will be which opens first, if either gets off the drawing board.